A judge quadrupled Father W. Thomas Faucher's bond to $1 million Tuesday morning.

Author:
Katie Terhune

Published:
11:19 AM MDT March 13, 2018

Updated:
4:16 PM MDT March 13, 2018

BOISE -- A retired Boise priest was taken back into custody Tuesday morning after a judge quadrupled his bond, declaring that the brutally violent child pornography newly discovered on the suspect's computer had convinced him the community was not safe as long as Father W. Thomas Faucher remained free.

Prosecutors leveled nine new charges against Faucher during the hearing - seven new counts of possession of child pornography, one new count of distribution of child pornography and one new count of LSD possession - bringing his total charges to more than 20.

Prosecutor Kassandra Slaven said the additional charges correspond to additional graphic files, images and videos found on the 72-year-old's computer - some of which Faucher had attempted to delete, she said.

Those images and videos are "so concerning that the state feels that a $250,000 bond just simply does reflect the danger and risk the defendant poses to the community," Slaven told the judge.

Faucher, who retired as pastor at St. Mary's Catholic Church in 2014, listened intently from his wheelchair during Tuesday's hearing. He was arrested Feb. 2 after a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led investigators to seek a search warrant for his parish-owned home.

Forensic investigators have so far recovered more than 2,000 child pornography files from Faucher's devices, the prosecutor said, including pictures and videos depicting the "extremely brutal rape and torture of children."

"Quite frankly, your Honor, the content is some of the worst that the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force has seen," Slaven said. "This involves very young children - many, many infant children."

Online, Faucher fed his "sadistic and deviant" desires by chatting with people with similar interests, Slaven said, discussing fantasies that were alarming in their specificity: even outlining the gender, age and other details about children he would like to abuse.

"There are countless, countless, countless graphic chat conversations on his computer where he is very specific about how his sexual interests are evolving; he discusses in great detail the desires he has to sexually abuse and even kill children," Slaven said.

Manweiler argued that the new charges were "quantitative" - more pornographic files discovered - but not a significant change in alleged conduct, meaning that Faucher is not any more likely to skip court.

"He's 72 years old: Conviction of even a small number of these charges could likely result in a functional life sentence," he said. "Whether he is charged with 500 counts or he's charged with five, it makes no qualitative difference to his motivation or ability to appear at all his court appearances."

The defense attorney also argued that Faucher has no prior criminal history, has complied with all GPS monitoring and other court conditions, and is not charged with any actual physical sexual contact with any children.

Although two people who say they were molested by the priest decades ago came forward after his arrest, Faucher has not been charged in those cases.

Manweiler argued the motion was targeting Faucher as a "backdoor way to put him back in jail."

But Judge James Cawthon sided with the prosecution, raising Faucher's bond to $1 million. The judge told Faucher he did not believe the conditions of his bond - GPS monitoring, no passport and no Internet access, among them - were enough to offset the danger he posed.

"The unfolding nature of this evidence reveals, from the court's perspective, a monumental, ongoing, escalating criminal enterprise focused on violent, grave harm to children," Cawthon said. "It is the court's opinion that there are not any conditions that the court can set in place which would ensure the safety of the community, the safety of victims related to this offense."

As the hearing ended, Faucher's hands were cuffed in front of him, and he was wheeled out of the courtroom to be transported once more to the Ada County Jail.